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Tastes Like Chicken Part 3

Well, that was a nice Thanksgiving break! Now let’s wrap up the tutorial with an optional addendum. You’ll recall that the tutorial was about copying an object from one image into another. Since the pasted object was not the same shape as the original, we had to graft parts of the background to fill in the voids. Here’s the picture.
See the part surrounded in yellow? That need to be replaced with the background. Since the pasted object is in its own layer, we don’t have to replace just the part surrounded in yellow, but that is the minimum that we must replace. We need to use the select tool to “lasso” a piece of the background and past it on top of the extra chicken. After selecting the area and copying it, we past it with Control-E and can then use the Move tool to finely position it. I’ve clicked on the pasted object’s eye icon to turn it off (in the layers palette), so let’s give it a try. Make sure the Background layer is current. Here’s my first attempt.
Well, it doesn’t look so good, does it? I mean, on the left side, it looks ok, but on the right side, you can clearly see the edge of the part I pasted in.
To make it look more natural, you need to “feather” the selection. You can choose that setting before making the selection, or you can edit the selection after you make it. Feathering means to expand a bit the area that you select, and to make that expansion fuzzy. As with most things photochop, it’s easier to experiment and see than it is to describe in writing, so go ahead and experiment. Use different feathering settings and notice the different they make. Here’s my second try.
See how the fuzzy edges blend in a little better? But please don’t wind up doing this.
See how obvious it is when you past the same part over and over? You must select different parts to paste and make it look natural. Here’s where your practice turns into skill over time. The software itself won’t do it for you.

Blending things in realistically is a skill you build over time!

Here’s my final attempt.

Perfect? No, hardly! Give it a second glance, and you can spot the imperfections.

Keep practicing and developing your skills, and I’ll see you in the next tutorial! 🙂